February 23, 2009

"Greetings from the dead," declares Maxwell Broadbent on the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber, Broadbent accumulated over a half a billion dollars' worth of priceless art, gems, and artifacts before vanishing---along with his entire collection---from his mansion in New Mexico.

At first, robbery is suspected, but the truth proves far stranger: As a final challenge to his three sons, Broadbent has buried himself and his treasure somewhere in the world, hidden away like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. If the sons wish to claim their fabulous inheritance, they must find their father's carefully concealed tomb.

The race is on, but the three brothers are not the only ones competing for the treasure. This secret is so astounding it cannot be kept quiet for long. With half a billion dollars at stake, as well as an ancient Mayan codex that may hold a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases, others soon join the hunt---and some of them will stop at nothing to claim the grave goods.

My Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a great adventure with a happy ending that was real, not forced. The Broadbent brothers each have their good and bad moments and I learned to like them all. Preston made each character come to life in my head from the evil Hauser right down to the little monkey, Hairy Bugger.

I thought the book was going to be a Da Vinci Code type of adventure with clues they had to follow but their mission was pretty straight forward. There were a few curve balls thrown in and I like the way everything was neatly tied together in the end. I highly recommend this one for all suspense lovers.

My review is based on the audio CD narrated by Scott Sowers. Sowers did an awesome job. He distinguished each character with a completely different voice and added an extra bit of humor with his attitude.

I read the book awhile back and it was very exciting and interesting. As a "student of human nature" it was right on target in my estimation. However, after reading your review I think it would be even more interesting to listen to the audio. My question is when do you have the time?